123 - Alexandre DUMAS the Younger and his family.
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,500

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Alexandre DUMAS the Younger and his family. Correspondence with Count Joseph PRIMOLI. 1872–1881 and undated. Through his mother – by virtue of intermarriage – Joseph Primoli was descended from Joseph and Lucien Bonaparte, brothers of the Emperor. He had completed his entire education in France, where his family had settled in 1853 and remained until 1870. Dumas the Younger treated him with paternal affection, and Primoli maintained close ties with the whole family throughout his life. - Alexandre DUMAS the Younger. Photographic portrait. Cabinet-size print bearing the following dedication: ‘To Joseph Primoli, his friend, A. Dumas the Younger’. - Joseph PRIMOLI. 4 autograph signed letters to Alexandre Dumas the Younger. 29 pp. in-8. 20 December 1872 – After an evening spent with Dumas. “You must have thought me rather foolish for failing to find the words to express to you all the respect, affection and gratitude my heart held.” Back in Rome, he is overcome by ‘the indescribable sadness of being far from dear Paris, which one admires despite its ruins just as one loves it despite its faults… To remain connected to France by a living thread, I’d had the idea of joining a French newspaper… to stir up within myself that spirit of emulation without which one ends up doing nothing, and which I miss completely here in Rome… Just as in Paris one goes to the Italian opera, in Rome one goes to the Comédie Française. At the moment we have a charming actress, Mme Esquier Samary, niece of the Brohans, who has performed in *The Lady of the Camellias*, *The Friend of Women* (first version) and *Princess Georges*. Needless to say, these plays were a great success… ’ – 11 January 1874. He sends her some delicacies. ‘I remember that Mlle Colette is particularly fond of garlic sausage, but I didn’t dare send her any this time, for fear of making her suitcase stink… You must come; we’re expecting you.” He would like to break free from his idleness. “In Paris, at least, one goes with the flow; elsewhere, there is only the whirlpool that engulfs you.” – undated. His father will be in Paris for the whole of September. ‘I recommend him to you because he is used to living amongst us and I fear he may soon feel isolated. Send him theatre tickets, if you have any to hand; that is the kindest thing you could do for him. ” – 17 November 1874. “Why do I send you my letters so rarely? It is because I write to you too often… my letter becomes interminably long… I find it simpler to tear it up. ’ ‘God has given me neither the ambition to succeed nor the stamina to persevere; so I very much fear I shall never be the iron arm for which you have cast me the role. ’ A lengthy discussion on what makes a good diplomat—whose ideal is not that of a rogue? ‘You advise me, above all, not to fall in love… Despite all my desire, I cannot fall in love. I do not know if it is because, living constantly with you through thought and reading, I am too deeply imbued with your doctrines and have allowed reason to take over my heart…. Sometimes, I ask myself quietly… Could it be that I have no heart? But I can feel it; it comes, throbbing, to prove me wrong; it beats when I embrace my mother, when I find myself in the company of a pretty woman, or when I receive a letter from you…’ - Alexandre DUMAS the Younger. 4 telegrams and a note (3 lines) signed to Count Primoli. - Joseph PRIMOLI to Émile de la Charlotterie (Dumas the Younger’s godson). 2 pp. in-8, 4 pp. in-12. - Undated. On a controversy he cannot explain. “Alexandre Dumas was the finest of men, as he was the wittiest, and all those who knew him well were deeply attached to him. ” - Nadine DUMAS. 11 autograph signed letters and a visiting card to Count Primoli. 1880–1881 and undated. - [1880], 36 pp. in-8. “You are such a dear friend of ours that I do not wish to let anyone else have the pleasure of announcing Colette’s marriage to you… Colette says that if you do not come, she will go all the way to Rome to introduce her husband to you. ’ – 24 May [1880]. ‘The tapestry is on its way… Princess Mathilde has promised to visit us at Le Puys; please do the same.’ – 28 July. Every ship that passes gives us hope that you are amongst the passengers… must you remain in this state of mourning and despair for so long?” – 26 February [1881]. I saw Princess Mathilde yesterday. We spoke at length about you. I told her that you had been tactful enough not to mention the Princess of Baghdad’s whistle to us…’ – [January 1881]. She waited to write to him until she had ‘definite news of the tapestry’. – undated ‘Mr Dumas is so deeply immersed in his work that I am the one charged with writing to you and asking you to translate and send to Mr Dumas everything in the book you mentioned to him concerning indulgences…’ – 29 September. “You are most kind to take an interest in the patients at Montreux… As for our return, only Mr Dumas’s pen can tell us; our departure depends on it, come what may.” – undated, on “Jeannine” letterhead ’. She took advantage of a friend’s visit to ‘send him a wealth of friendship and affection from the whole family. As Mr Dumas was away, I was delighted to steal his right to have a little chat with you… ” – Jeannine DUMAS to Joseph Primoli, nicknamed Coche and later Gégé. 27 autograph letters signed ‘Cocoche’ and later Jeannine, [undated–1903]. 59 pp. in-8., 15 pp. in-12. - ‘Everything you tell me about the people from the Land of Fire has convinced me to go and see them as soon as I return to Paris.’ – undated ‘If you have not received an invitation from the Protais to join them at their home after the church wedding, it is because they had run out. I have therefore been asked to… beg you not to miss the feast…’ – Puys? 24 July. They are awaiting your arrival ‘in the hope that they will not have to wait long… Even my young nephew complains that he does not know you.’ – ‘For the past ten days, Colette has been in such a state that she has been lying on the stone floor half-naked, her flesh in tatters. She rages, she screams, she swears, she foams at the mouth… and do you know why, you barbaric criminal, do you know why? Because she hasn’t received a letter from you… Your poor Cocoche, drowned in her tears…” – On paper with a bulldog’s head. – undated. “What’s all this trouble back home? Is it really true? I know a young girl who wanted to go there but doesn’t dare… Papa and I are in Royat with the Flahauts. Mummy has stayed with my nephew and his young mother.” In the letters that can be dated to Jeannine’s later years, there is much mention of Princess Mathilde, Primoli’s aunt and Jeannine’s godmother: undated: ‘I was delighted to kiss my godmother, and I would like to thank you for that. I was also very touched that Her Highness Princess Clotilde allowed me to enter her room in her presence.” – “Tomorrow I shall go to see the princess. She is so sad not to see you! What a kind and charming woman.’ – undated: ‘I hope Prince Louis’s return will cheer her up a little, for I really do not find her cheerful. And despite all her efforts, one can sense her sorrow. ” – Undated: Papa went to see the Princess, who was still not well. She was more worried about her own condition than about the princes’ expulsion… You know that the Princess was not pleased with you. She thinks you ought to come to Paris to find a flat and a wife. ” – “I have such fond memories of what you meant to my poor father and to us that I would at least like you to be able to count on me for my godmother’s care – for everyone – I am at her beck and call, at your disposal night and day. And I shall never be able to do all that I would like to do to prove my affection and gratitude to the dear princess.” – Joseph PRIMOLI to Jeannine. Postcard, 30 December 1921. – Joseph PRIMOLI. Rome, 29 June 1881, to his ‘dear Aunt Cocoche’ (Jeannine Dumas). He had learnt from *Le Figaro* of the demonstrations in Rome, ‘where I am awakened only by the sound of serenades – which are not addressed to me. ” - Colette DUMAS to Count Primoli. 10 letters, undated. 22 pp. in-12 and in-81, with envelope. - Undated. A lovely thank-you letter for having spoilt her distant friends so much ‘with such lovely things’. – Undated. She congratulates him on going on a little trip. ‘My only regret is not being able to join you. I love travelling and I can’t wait to be a proper old maid so I can go on a trip every year… Papa is working but he doesn’t talk about it.” – Charade: “My first one stinks. My second stinks. My whole stinks.” – “Tomorrow, because of your King’s arrival, I shall not be going to see your aunt again. Eight days ago I received a dispatch from La Duse asking to resume talks with Max. I put them in touch. ” “I am so happy that His Majesty remembered me for a moment. Need I tell you that I shall do my utmost to persuade my father to undertake a journey that would bring me such joy. ” Enclosed: - A calling card from Count Primoli with a few words written in pencil - 3 envelopes addressed to her - 3 sheets of Count Primoli’s letter paper with his photograph on the letterhead.

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About the sale The World of Dumas Father & Son

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Auction time 10/22/2026 at 2:00 PM

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123 - Alexandre DUMAS the Younger and his family. See original version (French)

123 - Alexandre DUMAS the Younger and his family.
See original version (French)